I've designed a program in Java to automatically calculate stats for monsters. It's already completed (in beta) and I've posted it for free on SourceForge here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/monstergenerato/files/

It takes input for a monster's desired type, size, and CR and calculates their hit dice, then lets you spend their attributes, feats, skills, and select their powers. It'll crunch all the numbers for you. Alternatively, you can even randomize parts of a monster or the entire thing.

If you have feedback about it (i.e.-features you'd like to see, bugs, or suggestions for the interface) I'd appreciate hearing about it here or you can notify me on sourceforge about it under that project. I've personally found it saves me about an hour per monster, which is awesome. It prints the resulting stats in text form so you can easily edit them to your liking (ex- changing fire to cold, or something). I hope you like it!

So I'm trying to use it to create the evil false god Raegog in my home game who happens to be a huge intelligent scorpion. I want him to have DR 5/-, a sting, 2 claws, be intelligent, and have poison and fast poison but using this I can't do that.

I'm not sure what CR you wanted or anything, but the main part I'm assuming you had trouble with was that vermin are mindless. On the Special Qualities menu under 6 point powers you can add Intelligent (mindless only) to make a normally 0 int monster have mental stats.

I added fast and slow poison to him, because it sounded like that was what you intended.

Poison (Ex)
A Raegog can poison those it attacks. A Raegog's sting attack(s) will inflict a poison on its victims that has a fortitude save DC of 23, a frequency of 1/minute for 6 minutes, causes 1d6 con damage, and takes two saves to cure. The save DC is constitution-based.

Interesting program, if a little rough around the edges. I ran a few of my homebrew creatures and some of the bestiary creatures through it, and a couple things came up:

1) Constructs use a high base attack bonus, but your program appears to be applying a medium one. As well, construct traits are missing.

2) "Quadruped" is misspelled, and does not apply the normal CMD bonus versus tripping.

3) Animals default to 10 intelligence, rather than 2 intelligence. It'd be nice if we could reduce or otherwise fine-tune exact attribute numbers. Similarly, being able to fine tune hit dice, natural armor, natural attack damage, and saving throws would be useful.

4) There does not appear to be any way to specify the speed of the monster, or to add additional movement types.

5) It would be nice if the program didn't enforce hard limits. Give me a warning if I'm applying a too powerful an ability or too many abilities for the chosen CR. For instance, it's actually not possible to build the minotaur from the bestiary with this program since it has too many powers, nor will it accept my CR 4 golem since that's too low for magic immunity.

6) It would be nice if there was a section to free-form in additional special abilities. Homebrew monsters, by their nature, usually have unique properties of some sort or another.

7) I'm seeing high perception values on monsters that shouldn't be getting any bonus to perception at all.

8) Damage for some weapons seems to be off. A large-sized greataxe gives 2d6 rather than 3d6 damage, for instance.

9) Many properties should have a full description listed under "special abilities" (for instance, magic immunity) but nothing is printed there.

maybe it could keep a running tab of the CR instead of setting limits based on the Pre selected CR.

This can cause problems if you're just a little high in one category. You can very easily end up with a CR 5 monster that's below-average for a CR 4 monster if you enforce these rules too rigidly. Better to give the user a warning.

Sorry I've been very busy for the holidays, I'll try to answer all this feedback.

Thanks for trying it out! I'm glad many of you seem to find it useful.

Threeshades wrote:

It doesn't seem to work for me. Wen i try to launch the .jar i get an error saying "Could not find the main class: MonsterGenerator. Program will exit."

I already checked my Java, and its Java 7 so that's not the cause.

That error -only- happened to me when Java 7 was not installed. I'd check to make sure the installation is good and it's the correct version.

Borthos Brewhammer wrote:

As a CR 10, I add the second attack and intelligent for 9 points, leaving me 1 point left. Which leaves me no room for poison.

I was able to get those abilities on the one I made at CR 11 but he didn't have enough powers to get them at level 10 and not go with low hit dice.

Dasrak wrote:

Interesting program, if a little rough around the edges. I ran a few of my homebrew creatures and some of the bestiary creatures through it, and a couple things came up:

... (redacted)

This is very good feedback. I'll be looking into doing a few of these when I get a chance to make the next version of the program. This is still just the first public beta version, so I have a lot of room to grow.

You need to have the 'Data' folder inside the same directory as the .jar file you click to run the program. Make sure that the files inside the data folder all have the same names as they originally came with, otherwise they won't load properly.

clff rice wrote:

maybe it could keep a running tab of the CR instead of setting limits based on the Pre selected CR.

This is a good suggestion, but I'd have to rewrite an awful lot of stuff. I might consider making a 'free mode' where you can just add whatever you like and it may suggest a CR based on the number of powers.

Powers were a system I had to invent myself, there wasn't anything in Pathfinder that covered monster creation like this so it was my attempt at making it functional and balanced, as well as giving an idea of the general amount of abilities I found on monsters of each level.

I should at least make it allow a mode where you get more power points by clicking an option button, at least.

By the way, changing a monster to 'less hit dice' allows you to get slightly more power points for the CR. I added hard limits to some powers to help people to balance their monsters, as I figured that if you REALLY wanted an ability on your monster that didn't fit in the program you could just write it on there.

By the way, changing a monster to 'less hit dice' allows you to get slightly more power points for the CR. I added hard limits to some powers to help people to balance their monsters, as I figured that if you REALLY wanted an ability on your monster that didn't fit in the program you could just write it on there.

That's fine, but this should cover everything that's in the bestiary. I tend to use the bestiary Minotaur as a benchmark for its CR-range, so the fact that I couldn't build him in your program is somewhat of an issue.

I totally understand putting rules in place to keep monster creation in line, but these should always be guidelines. Just pop up a warning and then let the user keep adding powers rather than stopping him altogether.

A little update, I'm most of the way through version .97. I just need to finish adding in type descriptions for monsters. For those interested, here's the patch notes for it:

.97 patch notes:

.97: ONGOING
****(in progress) Added descriptions for monster type traits, such as Construct Traits and Undead Traits.
Added a new checkbox to ignore the Powers cap and the Attribute Points cap.
Added the option to ignore the warning for powers not allowed by specific CRs.
Added an option to subtract points from Attribute Scores.
Improved randomized monsters to select an alignment based on their type and subtypes, and monsters with 0 int should now always be randomized to Neutral.
Fixed a bug where constructs were getting 3/4 base attack bonus instead of 1/1.
Fixed a bug where animals were defaulting to 10 intelligence instead of 2.
Fixed a bug where mindless monsters were getting 1 skill instead of 0.
Fixed a bug where perception was always being evaluated as a chosen skill.
Corrected the spelling of 'Quadruped'.
changed Intelligent (mindless only) from a 6-point power to a 1-point power.

Alright, finished with version .97! I added a couple more things to the patch notes, you can look them up in the README if you feel so inclined. I'm interested in feedback about the newer version, if/ when people try it out.

I finished the tutorial video! It was a long time coming but I was busy... and making videos is scary. My microphone does strange things at one point but I think it turned out pretty good. The video will give you a good idea of how to use the program.

Does this allow you to add templates onto monsters? Can you add multiple templates or multiple of same (say Advanced or Young)? One thing I've really been wanting is a program that houses all of the templates on the pfsrd so I can add them automatically, not manually (One of my gripes with Kyle Olson's Combat Manager).

This program doesn't add templates to monsters, it creates monsters from scratch. There's already a function to add templates to monsters on the d20pfsrd website here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-advancer

I'm hard at work on the next version... which is a pretty impressive update if I say so myself. In addition to squishing a few bugs, adding powers, and making some nice improvements (like prompting the user to replace a power that doesn't stack, rather than just saying it's a duplicate), I took a very hard look at the numbers for monsters at various CRs. I found some of my calculations were off, so those have all been improved.

In addition there's a pretty awesome feature: I'm working on allowing users to define their own powers to appear in the program. I should have it done in the next few days, assuming I don't think of something new and amazing I feel obligated to put in. That has happened a lot lately though...

Version .98 is a very large update, I'd recommend updating the program if you have an older version. There are a number of things people asked for like custom powers and a numbers rework. I sampled about 60 monsters to try and come up with a good average for various levels.

However, in a marginally annoying turn of events Sourceforge has some kind of server problem today and I can't update my files there.

Until I'm able to update the files on Sourceforge properly you can download it off Mediafire here: http://www.mediafire.com/?uh1hb9jqij8szqo

.98 patch notes:

UPDATE NOTES:
.98:
Added the ability for users to define custom powers through the custom_powers.txt file! There are a few custom powers defined to help you get started. Remember to add them to the appropriate powers list file to make them appear in the powers menu.
Added the ability to add weaknesses to the monster.
Added a minimum for mental attributes below which they cost no points to advance.
Added two more subtype selection boxes.
Added the powers +1 Weapon, +2 Weapon, +3 Weapon, +5 Weapon, Aura of Despair, Stench, Curse, Web, Natural Invisibility, All-Around Vision, Improved Attack Damage, +1 Natural Armor, Stunning Attack, Blinding Gaze, 1d6 Elemental Attack, Keen Scent, Engulf, Light Sensitivity, Light Aversion, and Vulnerabilities: Acid, Cold, Electricity, Sonic, Critical Hit, Slashing Weapon, Piercing Weapon, Bludgeoning Weapon, and Miracle and Wish.
Added the ability to replace non-stacking powers with multiple versions rather than resetting all powers.
Improved the formulas for Attribute Caps, Hit Die Calculation, Powers, and Natural Armor bonus.
Fixed a bug where multiple subtypes that were granting the same power would display 'Duplicate Power Detected'.
Fixed a bug where Randomize Remaining Choices was not ignoring the Ignore AP Cap and Ignore PP Cap checkboxes.
Fixed a bug where the Add Attack button wasn't acknowledging the Ignore PP Cap checkbox.
Fixed a bug where if Randomize Spells was unchecked, it would display spell levels the monster couldn't cast spells of.
Fixed a bug where the next button was sometimes showing a 'Duplicate Power Detected' warning after hitting the back button.
Fixed a bug where type traits were not being removed from the powers list upon hitting the back button.
Fixed a bug where sometimes attribute score labels would change spacing.
Fixed a bug where swarms of diminutive or smaller weren't recieving Immunity to Weapon Damage.
Noted that Grab gave monsters a +4 to CMB for Grapple checks.
Changed blindsense, blindsight, darkvision, and tremorsense to be stackable.
Changed subtype powers (and type powers) to cost less rather than giving more total PP.
Changed type descriptions to be easier to read and exclude trivial facts (like weapon proficiencies).
Changed monster types to award their sense powers (Darkvision 60ft, Low-Light Vision, and Blindsense 30ft) automatically for free.
Changed +4 to CMD VS Trip/ Disarm/ Grapple defenses to be stackable.
Changed Dominating Gaze and Petrifying Gaze from 3-point to 6-point powers.
Fly Speed Changed from a 1-point power to a 2-point power.
Changed Vulnerabilities to all follow the same naming convention.
Changed random monsters to no longer ever roll 'Fine' size.
Changed the advancement to attack damage from size from 3.0 rules to Pathfinder rules.

@Mystic Snowfang, Warhaven
I personally don't have any experience using it on a Mac... nothing to test it on. I think OS X comes with Java installed already, have you tried updating it to Java 7?

It did take quite a while, but thanks to help from 'Quintessentially Me' with testing it I've been able to make a version that should work just as well on mac and Java 1.6 as it did on Java 7 on Windows.

There are a couple other minor updates as well, but nothing too huge for windows users. Again, if you haven't updated it since version .97 I highly recommend doing so.

You can download it here, as always: https://sourceforge.net/projects/monstergenerato/files/?

.99 patch notes:

UPDATE NOTES:
.99:
Modified the program to be able to run on MAC OS X and Java 1.6.
Modified the program's layout (especially in non-windows environments) to fit better.
Added the capability to resize the window.
Added the ability to specify -1 and -3 Point Attacks and Qualities.
Added the weaknesses Undersized Weapons and -10 foot move speed.
Fixed a bug where the menu items **-1 Point Powers** and **-3 Point Powers** were selectable.

I set out to make my own version of a CR 5 white dragon. Once I figured out where everything was, it went OK for the most part. The final result, compared with the guidelines in the back of the Bestiary, matched CR 5 quite well.

Overall, it seems like a good start, but like it's not quite ready for production yet. I have sourceforge set to send me e-mails when the program is updated.

Comments about function:
* The breath weapon the program gave me was a fire breath weapon, which of course I would want to be cold on my white dragon. Is there a way to change this?
* I can't find any way to save my results. If I liked this dragon, and wanted to tweak it to make my own version of a blue dragon, it would be easier for me if I could save it, then re-load and re-save it.
* I didn't find a way to choose my own spells. I'm assuming that's not part of this program, but might make its way into a future release.
* I couldn't find a way to remove individual powers. There was a Reset Powers button, but that would remove all the (non-type-based) powers.
* I seemed to be able to bump mental stats from 10 to 12 without paying any AP (attribute points?). I don't know if that is intentional.
* I'm surprised the program didn't recommend Fly as a skill for my flying monster.
* I may have to talk you into exporting the monster in PCGen format. :-)

Comments about the interface:
* When I was in the start-up section, "Recommended Hit Dice" appeared to be selected, but it wouldn't let me go forward to the next step until I actually selected Recommended Hit Dice (and the Racial Hit Dice changed from x to 7). That was confusing.
* I would like it better if I could see the feats/skills/powers that I have already selected. In particular, I couldn't remember what abilities a dragon got for free, or the cold subtype got for free.
* It was difficult to find the powers that I wanted. And, once found, it was difficult to determine what power point cost they had. There were lots of powers where I had no idea what they did.
* I couldn't figure out how to get an extra 5' reach for my dragon's bite attack.

I set out to make my own version of a CR 5 white dragon. Once I figured out where everything was, it went OK for the most part. The final result, compared with the guidelines in the back of the Bestiary, matched CR 5 quite well.

Overall, it seems like a good start, but like it's not quite ready for production yet. I have sourceforge set to send me e-mails when the program is updated.

I'm glad you liked it, yeah there are still a few rough edges left. I've been slowly working them out and updating the interface. Updating has been slow work lately because I'm very busy with school and I have a job too. =(

Distant Scholar wrote:

Comments about function:

* The breath weapon the program gave me was a fire breath weapon, which of course I would want to be cold on my white dragon. Is there a way to change this?
* I can't find any way to save my results. If I liked this dragon, and wanted to tweak it to make my own version of a blue dragon, it would be easier for me if I could save it, then re-load and re-save it.
* I didn't find a way to choose my own spells. I'm assuming that's not part of this program, but might make its way into a future release.
* I couldn't find a way to remove individual powers. There was a Reset Powers button, but that would remove all the (non-type-based) powers.
* I seemed to be able to bump mental stats from 10 to 12 without paying any AP (attribute points?). I don't know if that is intentional.
* I'm surprised the program didn't recommend Fly as a skill for my flying monster.
* I may have to talk you into exporting the monster in PCGen format. :-)

Comments about the interface:
* When I was in the start-up section, "Recommended Hit Dice" appeared to be selected, but it wouldn't let me go forward to the next step until I actually selected Recommended Hit Dice (and the Racial Hit Dice changed from x to 7). That was confusing.
* I would like it better if I could see the feats/skills/powers that I have already selected. In particular, I couldn't remember what abilities a dragon got for free, or the cold subtype got for free.
* It was difficult to find the powers that I wanted. And, once found, it was difficult to determine what power...

A few of these are addressed in the tutorial video or the readme, which is one reason I made it in the first place. This is some good feedback, though, and I'm glad you took the time to write it.

You can bump mental stats up without spending attribute points when they're under a certain amount based on the CR. in the beastiary they give mental stats bascially for free on most monsters (particularly outsiders and dragons) later, so to reflect that I made them free based on CR. going above a point where they'd become useful costs points.

Clicking on Recommended Hit Dice is something I'll look at changing, I guess I just got used to doing it. This kind of thing is why it's nice to have people who are vocal about the interface.

It displays the abilities/feats/ skills you have already selected under the dropdown menu on the right side of wherever you add them. For instance, for attacks powers it'd be the one just to the right of the 'add power' button.

The recommended feats and skills buttons could use a little bit of work, I agree. As it is right now, they just detect what type the monster is. You can manually modify the list, and many of the other features of lists and stuff by editing the text files.

I'll see if I can find a good way to put in removing individual powers, and saving monsters. I could also display PP costs for powers better by writing them per line rather than in a heading I think.

Currently the ability to copy and paste the text form of your monster is how you keep track of them, but that doesn't allow you to re-import it into the program to easily modify things.

I'm not sure what PCgen format is, but I'll look it up. I tended to favor .txt versions of things for this program because they would be easy for non-technical users to modify. P.S.- many of the elemental powers default to fire and such, the way to modify those currently is simply by changing the word in the printed stats.

toascend wrote:

Annnnd it helps if I extract the folder.

Yeah this is amazing. You're the best for this. Seriously, monster creation is always lengthy and pulling teeth for me.

Haha yes... extracting the folder makes it work much better. I'm glad you enjoy it! It saves me an awful lot of time... and don't tell my players but I sometimes whip up monster stats in the middle of a session with it when they do something unexpected.

KainPen wrote:

Kewl thing, but i noticed you can't take weapon focus more then once. some monster make take weapon focus on there claws and their bite.

Hm... I thought I put that in for (primary) and (secondary) to allow it to be taken for both. If that's wrong I'll fix it when I make the next version.

"The Firey Quro has bright gray skin. Because of their cruel nature, a Firey Quro will frequently heal villagers, so they are usually killed by adventurers." ahh randomized flavor text, awesome tool though, hit random a few times and got some cool ideas. Thanks for this.